Iraq, Afghan Vets at Risk for Suicides. Thank Your Republican AWOL Presidunce.

Suicides in Iraq have occurred since the early days of the war, but

awareness was heightened when the Army said its suicide rate in 2006

rose to 17.3 per 100,000 troops -- the highest in 26 years of

record-keeping.

From The Associated Press, 10/31/07:

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-military-suicide,0,4789268.story

Iraq, Afghan Vets at Risk for Suicides

By KIMBERLY HEFLING | Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON -

Mary Gallagher did not get a knock at the door from a military

chaplain with news of her Marine husband's death in a faraway place.

Instead, the Iraq war veteran committed suicide eight months after

returning home.

She is left wondering why.

It's a question shared by hundreds of families of Iraq and Afghanistan

veterans who have taken their own lives in a homecoming suicide

pattern of a magnitude that is just starting to emerge.

Preliminary Veterans Affairs Department research obtained by The

Associated Press reveals for the first time that there were at least

283 suicides among veterans who left the military between the start of

the war in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001 and the end of 2005.

The numbers, while not dramatically different from society as a whole,

provide the first quantitative look at the toll on today's combat

veterans and are reminiscent of the increased suicide risk among

returning soldiers in the Vietnam era.

Today's homefront suicide tally is running at least double the number

of troop suicides in the war zones as thousands of men and women

return with disabling injuries and mental health disorders that put

them at higher risk.

A total of 147 troops have killed themselves in Iraq and Afghanistan

since the start of the wars, according to the Defense Manpower Data

Center, which tracks casualties for the Pentagon.

Add the number of returning veterans and the finding is that at least

430 of the 1.5 million troops who have fought in the two wars have

killed themselves over the past six years.

And that doesn't include people like Gallagher's husband who committed

suicide after their combat tours and while still in the military -- a

number the Pentagon says it doesn't track.

That compares with at least 4,227 U.S. military deaths overall since

the wars started -- 3,840 in Iraq and 387 in and around Afghanistan.

In response, the VA is ramping up suicide prevention programs.

Research suggests that combat trauma increases the risk of suicide,

according to the National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Difficulty dealing with failed relationships, financial and legal

troubles, and substance abuse also are risk factors among troops, said

Cynthia O. Smith, a Pentagon spokeswoman.

Families see the effects first hand.

____________________________________________________

Have you read about how the Deserter-In-Chief ran from the Vietnam

War?

http://www.glcq.com

And have you read this about Georgie's being AWOL from supporting our

troops?

http://www.awolbush.com/

Harry